jennifers's birth story
Oct 17, 2015 19:44:28 GMT -5
Post by jennifers on Oct 17, 2015 19:44:28 GMT -5
Short Version - Oliver Miles was born 10/10/15 via c-section 8lbs 9ozs 20.5 inches
Long Version - I was scheduled to go in on Monday 10/12 for a RCS at 41 weeks. I had hoped for a VBAC but it wasn't looking promising until Saturday morning 10/10 when I woke up with contractions. At first I thought it was gas pains but then they turned in to timeable obvious contractions at about 5am. I was GBS+ so I wanted to make sure I got in to get antibiotics in time so I called and we got ourselves and the toddler packed up and ready to go. We met my parents at the hospital and they took DS1 and we went and got checked in to triage. They checked me and I was at 1cm and she was able to stretch me to 4cm. I was excited because I never did this on my own with DS1 (he was an induction at 41w and labor stalled at 4-5cm before we went in for a c-section). I got checked in to L&D and they got me hooked up to antibiotics and we had to just hang out until the first dose was done. I got an epidural around 11am when contractions were really starting to get painful. I was having pretty strong contractions but they weren't getting any closer together and they weren't making me progress at all. The epidural was great and I was comfortable for quite a while but I was getting contractions/pressure in my butt. It wasn't just rectal pressure like they said was normal but it was my whole glute muscle. It felt like I had been doing squats all day and it eventually got to the point that I was feeling extremely strong feelings of having to push but I was still only 4-5 cm. They brought the anesthesiologist back in to up my epi dose and that helped for a little while. I was given Pitocin a couple times at level 1 but it brought on contractions that were equivalent to the ones you apparently get later in labor (I wouldn't know personally since I've never gotten further than 4-5cm but they were registering very very strong on the monitors.) They let me continue to labor and attempt to progress but I kept getting those extremely strong contractions even though I wasn't progressing at all. I got to the point where I was still at 4-5cm and in so much pain, despite the epidural, that I agreed that a c-section was our best option. They got the anesthesiologist back in to give me some pain meds to help while we waited for docs to be available for the c-section. They also gave me some meds to slow the contractions since they were coming very frequently still. That helped for about 20 minutes before they came back fast and furious and I was in full blown tears until they wheeled me in to the operating room and got the increased epidural meds in preparation for the c-section. Then comes the c-section. Baby boy was stuck. It took 25 minutes, strong fists pushing on my abdomen (felt like they were trying to punch down to my spine) and the vacuum to get him out. Apparently scar tissue from the last c-section made it difficult to get him out so they ended up having to cut my muscle. Nothing at all like the 5 or so minutes it took to get DS1 out. My poor baby had inhaled meconium and needed some respiratory help so he was brought back to the NICU and DH went with him. At this point, we were about 45 minutes in to the c-section and I was in quite a bit of pain. They offered to put me out for the rest of it and when they said they couldn't tell me how long it would take, I quickly agreed. Apparently my whole procedure took 2.5 hours. Once I woke up, they were able to take me over to the NICU to see Oliver. It was really hard seeing him all wired up and not being able to hold him. They then took me back to my post partum room and I kind of rested while I was waiting for the 6 hour mark to see if they would be able to release him or if they'd have to admit him. He ended up needing to be admitted for oxygen and some minor blood sugar help. I was able to hand express some colostrum and then eventually go via wheelchair, and then eventually walk very slowly to feed him. He finally was weaned from everything and released to us on Monday night (at exactly 2 days old). We were released to come home Tuesday morning (10/13). He's is a major cuddlebug and his big brother adores him. I have a hard time when I think about how everything happened but I keep reminding myself that the only thing that matters is we have a healthy baby and a healthy mama and the tough part is behind us.
Long Version - I was scheduled to go in on Monday 10/12 for a RCS at 41 weeks. I had hoped for a VBAC but it wasn't looking promising until Saturday morning 10/10 when I woke up with contractions. At first I thought it was gas pains but then they turned in to timeable obvious contractions at about 5am. I was GBS+ so I wanted to make sure I got in to get antibiotics in time so I called and we got ourselves and the toddler packed up and ready to go. We met my parents at the hospital and they took DS1 and we went and got checked in to triage. They checked me and I was at 1cm and she was able to stretch me to 4cm. I was excited because I never did this on my own with DS1 (he was an induction at 41w and labor stalled at 4-5cm before we went in for a c-section). I got checked in to L&D and they got me hooked up to antibiotics and we had to just hang out until the first dose was done. I got an epidural around 11am when contractions were really starting to get painful. I was having pretty strong contractions but they weren't getting any closer together and they weren't making me progress at all. The epidural was great and I was comfortable for quite a while but I was getting contractions/pressure in my butt. It wasn't just rectal pressure like they said was normal but it was my whole glute muscle. It felt like I had been doing squats all day and it eventually got to the point that I was feeling extremely strong feelings of having to push but I was still only 4-5 cm. They brought the anesthesiologist back in to up my epi dose and that helped for a little while. I was given Pitocin a couple times at level 1 but it brought on contractions that were equivalent to the ones you apparently get later in labor (I wouldn't know personally since I've never gotten further than 4-5cm but they were registering very very strong on the monitors.) They let me continue to labor and attempt to progress but I kept getting those extremely strong contractions even though I wasn't progressing at all. I got to the point where I was still at 4-5cm and in so much pain, despite the epidural, that I agreed that a c-section was our best option. They got the anesthesiologist back in to give me some pain meds to help while we waited for docs to be available for the c-section. They also gave me some meds to slow the contractions since they were coming very frequently still. That helped for about 20 minutes before they came back fast and furious and I was in full blown tears until they wheeled me in to the operating room and got the increased epidural meds in preparation for the c-section. Then comes the c-section. Baby boy was stuck. It took 25 minutes, strong fists pushing on my abdomen (felt like they were trying to punch down to my spine) and the vacuum to get him out. Apparently scar tissue from the last c-section made it difficult to get him out so they ended up having to cut my muscle. Nothing at all like the 5 or so minutes it took to get DS1 out. My poor baby had inhaled meconium and needed some respiratory help so he was brought back to the NICU and DH went with him. At this point, we were about 45 minutes in to the c-section and I was in quite a bit of pain. They offered to put me out for the rest of it and when they said they couldn't tell me how long it would take, I quickly agreed. Apparently my whole procedure took 2.5 hours. Once I woke up, they were able to take me over to the NICU to see Oliver. It was really hard seeing him all wired up and not being able to hold him. They then took me back to my post partum room and I kind of rested while I was waiting for the 6 hour mark to see if they would be able to release him or if they'd have to admit him. He ended up needing to be admitted for oxygen and some minor blood sugar help. I was able to hand express some colostrum and then eventually go via wheelchair, and then eventually walk very slowly to feed him. He finally was weaned from everything and released to us on Monday night (at exactly 2 days old). We were released to come home Tuesday morning (10/13). He's is a major cuddlebug and his big brother adores him. I have a hard time when I think about how everything happened but I keep reminding myself that the only thing that matters is we have a healthy baby and a healthy mama and the tough part is behind us.
